Parents of the HS Class of 2012 - Original

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
6821

<p>Mary 13, I am finding that some students are “likers” and some are “dislikers.” Like glass half filled and half empty sorts. The first type, if you take them to visit a school, they will see all the good things, and imagine a great 4 years there, no matter where it is, beause, really, most schools have an awful lot of terrific things about them. </p>

<p>For those students, and perhaps S2 is falling into that group, you may have to draw up a very theoretical list of pros and cons and do some of the sorting based on what you know about your student. Give your student a list of either or choices that are both opposites, but also closer together and hard to choose between. (Sort of a made up, and college focused, meyers-briggs). Something like, pick one of the following, even if you like both or hate both (whhich would you choose or do you prefer):</p>

<p>school academically perfect match with not so good quality of life vs. perfect quality of life and so so academic fit</p>

<p>school with perfect academic fit but terrible networking for jobs and graduate school vs school with eh academics in your field, but could really help you get to next step with connections</p>

<p>small perfect picturesque town that all your friends want to visit once, but you often get bored of, vs a complex but seedy small city that no one ever does trips to but offers intern opportunities, work study, research, edgy and energetic art music scene.</p>

<p>small departments where professors are devoted to you and are flexible and intense about having you succeed, but in some departments there is not enough breadth and depth and if you and prof have a problem there is no one else to turn to, vs. large department with unlimited choices and opportunities, but more red tape, you are no one special although no one stops you if you work to achieve, but they don’t actively support.</p>

<p>A college where when you tell people you went there others will make assumptions about you, perhaps that you practice a religion in a certain way, or have certain political tendencies, vs a school that draws black stares from folks but allows you to start from scratch in showing them who you are as an individual. (Part one can be about sports, geekery, or any stereotype).</p>

<p>good food vs weather, food vs academics, academics vs weather, gender ratio vs hilliness. You get the idea. I found this very helpful. When I did this before I got our super duper counselor, that is when I found out that my son was sure he wanted a less competitive school and needed to be able to walk to services so he could be self sufficient.</p>

6822

<p>Thanks, 1012mom. PM me if you want to share war stories or names of programs or what not!!!
Yuh, New Orleans, hmmm. That is part of it, I guess. The new headmaster at my old D’s school left a top private in NO to get away from the “toxic environment” as he raised his young kids… ???
Anyway, I am very intrigued, I think Tulane is on the up and a sleeper. And a fit for my D!</p>

<p>PSM-Yes, I have same about Tufts. Also great for IR. One of my D09’s best friends is there for that and loves it. </p>

<p>Love everyone’s posts!</p>

6823

<p>PSM, your son should be admitted to KU without any trouble. It probably will come down to whether or not you can afford the OOS cost.</p>

<p>KU admission guidelines: Must meet 1 of the 3</p>

<p>GPA 2.5 out of 4.0 scale in KS Board of Regents curriculum
or
24 ACT / 1090 SAT
or
be in the top 1/3 of graduating class</p>

6824

<p>silversas - of course colleges need to be a good fit but most schools have a rep that is justified and that is what I am asking for. For example - on paper Elon sounds great, its rep - way too preppy and “southern formal” for my daughter so it’s off the list. There are back stories that are valuable when building a list of schools to visit and that helps to shorten the list. Your info on Ursinus is third hand so of less value than a parent here who has visited, but thanks for the response.</p>

6825

<p>mihcal1: So interesting, and definitely explicable as you describe it. I’m impressed with ANY 8th grader with a passion. Or a 12th grader for that matter!</p>

6826

<p>Met with gc and have drawn up a list of schools. Many are reaches including her dream school, but I think they are reaches for most kids except for the “2400” cream of the crop. DD goes to a public high school rated in top 50 US News and World Report, so she has the “challenging” courses covered. The dream school, she will apply ED and they are apparently need blind and if our need is covered with loans, so be it. (Not rich, not poor, just middle class). Our state schools are all great and she can picture herself at any of them. Plus she would get bright futures scholarship. D has visited all the state U’s on her list, some during various competitions like FPS and OM, etc. but loved the visit to Duke and the opportunities they offer for research the best. She wants to major in molecular bio/bio chem. So, here is the list. Feeling alot of relief that gc thinks she has a shot. Wish I was better at spread sheets, using a big dry/ erase board! LOL.</p>

<p>Duke (Early Decision) “the dream school”
Brown
Princeton
Vanderbilt
Florida State
University of Fl.
University of South Fl.
University of Central Fl.</p>

6827

<p>silversas, your son sounds like mine. I have spent hours trying to hone in on what my son does and does not want. And he was looking for a program that would accademically challenge him, but not bury him. And not in a city, but with things to do. And out of state. So that is why we started looking for schools that were in college towns, with good merit aid, and had lots going for him. I put a few stipulations on the search too. I wanted a school where I could be sure he would have housing all 4 years on campus if he wanted it, safety, and dorms that had individual rooms. He is an only child, never shared a room, or much else for that matter, and is REALLY weird about his sleeping arrangements.</p>

6828

<p>Great post, Silversas! Great food for thought!</p>

<p>Back from college tour - exhausting work, but also very rewarding. The last 2 schools we saw were:</p>

<p>Quinnipiac in CT: largest school we visited, at just under 6,000 undergrads. Another beautiful campus - actually 3 campuses, but for the first 2 years in school, all students live and take classes on the main campus. DD had an interview that lasted over an hour!
We had met our admissions rep at a fair in the Dallas area, and he and my DD get along very well. When he called me in, he told us that it was not a question of whether they would accept DD, but how much merit aid they would award her! Was a great thing to hear!!! I figured with her stats that most of the schools we’re looking at would admit her, but it sure made her feel wanted!</p>

<p>Fairfield Univ - DD had an interview scheduled; interviewer spent only 5-10 minutes with her - she was not a happy camper! (“We came all the way from Texas and this is all the time he could give me…?”). So, we had time to kill before the tour, so we drove around campus. DD was not “feeling it” and was not impressed with the business school buildings, so we left (and were thankfully able to catch an earlier flight)!</p>

<p>Summary: We went into the trip with DD thinking she knew what she wanted out of a school in terms of size and environment, and got a confirmation of that. She definitely likes the small school environment, with the added attention and help that that brings. And wants to come in being one of the top students (helps her confidence). She also identified a type of campus she likes: has to be beautiful (that’s what many years of art classes brings to the table!), can’t be tiny, the dorms must be nice, with very few in the traditional hall arrangement (she prefers suites and apartment style). So, I’m happy that it’s beginning to take shape, and she’s figuring out what she wants.</p>

<p>She gets her tonsils out on Monday - and is planning on working on her essays during her 2 week recovery time!</p>

6829

<p>" Of course he wants to apply for a gap year. I think this is the price I pay for keeping him so busy when was young. He now likes to be busy ALL the time" …</p>

<p>PSM… I think our boys must be twins… Mine is just the same. He too wants to apply for a gap year and you can’t believe all the things he wants to do. My S is also working with SCA this summer. He is thinking of going to work for them on his Gap year, as they give out $5000.00 scholarships for college if you work for them 6 months or longer. He wants to work in Yosemite. He also has plans on hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, becoming an EMT and a Wilderness EMT and going to Nepal to climb some big mountain there. I think if our boys met they would be best friends. My S has always been this way soince he was born… always looking for the next bigger better adventure.</p>

<p>He also has a bit of a different transcript as he had a disastrous Freshman year but had a somewhat stronger Sophmore year. He went away to a school in VT for Spring Semester Junior year and those grades are not averaged into his GPA at home. He only had 1 AP last year, the school in VT doesn’t believe in AP’s, but the classes are more rigorous than AP’s. In his ES class he was doing graduate level work as he had to do a sort of research thesis book of 50 pages. Most kids who matriculate from the VT school go on to the Ivy’s. Anyway, I just said apply wherever you want but have a safety, which he does, because there is no way to know how the collegs are going to look at his app. I think your DS is the same. They are very atypical and won’t look like anyone else. To top it all of my DS has VERY good test scores and self-studied Ap’s with 5’s… to add more to the confusion.</p>

6830

<p>I just want to say-- YAY-- to sunshine state–it feels so good to have the GC say to go for it. D had a friend who was just obsessed about Duke, applied ED last year and accepted with full aid, very small loan amount. She is so, so happy and excited. My fingers will be crossed!</p>

<p>D came up with a good draft of her essay today, after many, many false starts. So great to have the thing there to be poked at!</p>

<p>newtothismom-- the Quinnipiac admissions dean spoke at our HS on college night-- very bright and thoughtful. A few kids go every year from our school-- it seems like a school thats really on the rise.</p>

6831

<p>poorsinglemom-Indiana University has great language programs, and they do have Turkish!</p>

6832

<p>Thanks Gwen, We are going to the UCF open house on Saturday, to keep the positive outlook on other schools. I believe she will be happy and successful anywhere and that the reach schools are just that and thankfully she is on board with that. We will hope for Duke or the other reaches but Florida schools are providing kids with a great education also.</p>

6833

<p>Thanks for the ideas, PinotNoir and MizzBee! And silversas, thank you for laying out that helpful approach to “sorting” schools. I guess I should be grateful that I have a “liker.”</p>

6834

<p>mihcal: Guaranteed parking! Ha ha… love that UCLA! That would be reason enough to get a scholarship!</p>

<p>So, Yale sent me (not my D) a note and I went on line to scope some things out. She is interested in international relations and they have a new program in global relations or something like that. While I was there I pulled this from the web…
SAT Ranges for the incoming class:<br>
(for freshmen who submitted SAT scores)
Critical Reading Math Writing
760-800 45.0% 50.1% 50.8%
700-750 33.1% 29.5% 27.9%
600-690 19.3% 18.6% 19.4%
below 600 2.6% 1.8% 1.9% </p>

<p>That’s a little insane, but not quite as bad as I thought it would be. I was kinda surprised by 20% or so in the 600 to 690 range of most subjects. I guess I always think of Yale as being nothing below 700…</p>

6835

<p>The way to look at those top tier schools’ stats is when you strip off athletes, URM, legacies, special development or hooks, what are average stats?</p>

6836

<p>Sunshinestatemom- what about the university of miami?</p>

<p>newtothismom- your CT college tour smacked me with utter familiarity! Quinnipiac is definitely “better” for students <em>overall</em> than Fairfield U. FU is more geared towards STEM kids. They come to my school a few times every year to talk to engineering kids. will your D apply to quinnipiac??</p>

<p>Oldfort–the kids you named in those categories don’t all have lower stats than “unhooked” applicants. And “unhooked” applicants can have lower stats too.</p>

6837

<p>

</p>

<p>True, but I wouldn’t want to be an unhooked Yale applicant in the 600’s. Oldfort is talking about averages of admitted students, not particular applicants.</p>

6838

<p>I was discussing the average of admitted students / Naviance via email with son’s school college counselor today. S wants to take the SAT again and his school encourages the boys to take a test in fall of senior year, I previously posted about this. DH and I believed that with 1500(760,740) and 2260 (760,740,760)he was high enough for all of his schools - all green in Naviance. Counselor says it’s our/ his choice…1500 is a strong score…BUT the naviance stats include athletes and URMs and taking those students out, the stats would be higher. So, he will be giving it one more shot. I really think it’s ridiculous but I hate to wonder “what if” and it does seem counselor is encouraging the third sitting. He will likely be applying EA to Yale. It’s unlikely he will get in - others in his class applying early have hooks. He is a great kid, but hookless.</p>

6839

<p>CPU, University of Miami is a great school but it is private. For in state students, the best value is using Florida’s Bright Futures Scholarship at a state university.</p>

6840

<p>“PSM… I think our boys must be twins… Mine is just the same. He too wants to apply for a gap year and you can’t believe all the things he wants to do. My S is also working with SCA this summer. He is thinking of going to work for them on his Gap year, as they give out $5000.00 scholarships for college if you work for them 6 months or longer. He wants to work in Yosemite. He also has plans on hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, becoming an EMT and a Wilderness EMT and going to Nepal to climb some big mountain there. I think if our boys met they would be best friends. My S has always been this way soince he was born… always looking for the next bigger better adventure.”</p>

<p>@ 5boys. Ok. This is a little scary. My S also wants to do an EMT/Wilderness EMT or rescue program. Does your S cliff jump by an chance? That is my son’s new obsession. His gap year choices also includes 10 months with Americorp/SCA!!! The other choices are NSLI-Y & YES. He also really wants to learn to surf, sail, kayak, climb mountains (of course), along with any sport/outdoor activity he can think of. </p>

<p>@MizzBee - Indiana U is on the list! </p>

<p>Any OOS schools are going to be tough because of cost. Kansas U would be great because they just got a grant to increase their Turkish language program but the OOS cost…OY! Same issue with UT Austin, Indiana, Washington, BU, etc.</p>

<p>Okay, S is all signed up for October SAT and October ACT. Yikes. </p>

<p>It’s getting real!</p>

<p>PSM</p>